Items such as promotional and informational cards are used in many fields. Once such cards have fulfilled their initial purpose, the collecting and trading of such cards has become a popular activity among collectors. What had been for many years a hobby has now become a serious business in buying and selling cards. Some of these cards have become quite valuable because of their rarity, their subject matter, or the acquired fame of the person depicted on the card. The value of rare cards has become increasingly high.
Conventional printing technology has permitted the production of single cards having at most two surfaces. Thus, the advertiser is limited to advertise on only the two sides of the card. Thus, if the messages or information that the advertiser wants to convey to the public are long or complex, the printing and set up of the card must shrink proportionally, thereby diminishing the effect and impact on the consumer. Or, if the merchant wants to advertise as well as provide the consumer with a "collectable", the conventional card is not fully suitable. Furthermore, the message finally printed on the card may not necessarily be capable of conveying exactly the message the advertiser needs to convey or may limit him on the subject matter of his marketing communication. Finally, since the advertisers are constrained by the printing surfaces of the card, they are forced to print even more single cards and expend resources to distribute them and more critically spend millions of dollars on marketing strategies to create new innovative ways of placing messages and advertisements on cards, thereby increasing the cost of the products and services to consumers.
Similarly, conventional printing technology forces the collector who is completing the purchase of a card to receive only one single collector card; a card that is frequently expensive and which requires a great deal of care to retain any permanence or real or intrinsic value; a card that delivers limited information for lack of space, and which leaves the collector thirsting for more. But what is even worse for a collector is to purchase or receive a collectible card that has been tainted with an advertisement of a merchant at, for example, in a lower hand corner, thereby decreasing the value of the card and diminishing the marketing effect.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a collectable card assembly which will increase the ability of advertisers to market their products and services, and simultaneously give the collectors the valuable cards they are looking for.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved card having increased information and value as a collectable card.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a card which contains at least two card members initially combined into an integral unitary assembly and which is capable of being separated into its component members to provide multiple "cards."
These objects as well as other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following disclosure of the invention.